Election Petition: In the event of a re-run will Afari-Gyan preside?

After eight months of bated breath, anxiety, legal wits and jargons, casting of innuendos, warnings, charges and convictions for criminal contempt, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Ghana will on Thursday 29th August, 2013, deliver its verdict on the presidential election petition brought by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), and two others.

As we wait for the Judgment, it is clear to all that there can be only one of the following three possible outcomes namely; 1. That the status quo remains. i.e. President Mahama is given the nod. 2. That the First Petitioner, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is declared outright winner of the elections or 3.That neither of the litigating parties had the votes as required by law to be declared an outright winner and therefore a re-run or a run-off of the election must be held.

Although it would not be difficult to administratively handle the first two options, managing the third possibility has been agitating the minds of the Scandal. The third possibility; the declaration that none of the litigating parties had votes as required by law to be declared an outright winner and therefore a re-run of the election must be held has raised a major concern as to who will preside over that election since the credibility of the Electoral Commission can be said to have dipped in the last eight months the Supreme Court has been sitting on the election petition.

In fact, many people who followed the court proceedings live on national television had a hectic time differentiating the legal team of the EC, the First Respondent (John Mahama), and the Third Respondent (National Democratic Congress), as the three jointly defended the same issues and occasionally offered helping hands to one another.

Views of people sampled in the streets were virtually unanimous and their verdict was that should the Supreme Court declare on Thursday that there should be a re-run, then Dr. Afari-Gyan who is the Chairman of the EC must not be part of the running of that election.

When the Scandal contacted Dr Maurice Ampaw, President of the Legal Advocacy Foundation, he stated: “this is a legitimate concern because should the Supreme Court return with that verdict (Re-run), then it would clearly show that Dr. Afari-Gyan’s credentials are in doubt and so must not be part of that election”.

It was also the expectation of Dr. Ampaw that, in the event of a re-run, the Supreme Court would give clear directives as to how to proceed. “Even if the Supreme Court does not give an order and directions to that, I will expect Dr. Afari-Gyan to excuse himself and pave way for his deputy to supervise the elections,” he added.

Mr. Theodore Dzeble, Public Affairs Officer of the Center for Democratic Development (CDD), also in an interaction with the Scandal, welcomed the debate but stated that “no institution is 100% percent so definitely the EC would supervise the elections. On whether or not Dr. Afari-Gyan should supervise a possible re-run, I don’t see that status quo changing unless the Supreme Court indicts him as an individual”.

On 28th December, 2012, Lawyers representing the opposition party filed a petition at the Supreme Court, giving meaning to the party’s declaration it would seek the nullification of the results which saw incumbent President John Mahama and his governing National Democratic Congress retain power. The party contended that the president secured the win through fraud.

Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan on December 9, 2012, declared President Mahama the winner in the presidential contest. The president obtained 50.70% of the votes whilst his closest challenger Nana Akufo-Addo of the NPP, polled 47.74% of total votes cast.

The NPP rejected the results, claiming the elections were rigged in favor of President Mahama and indicated its resolve to challenge the results at the highest court of the land, the Supreme Court. Leaders of the party at a well-publicized press conference insisted there was ‘incontrovertible evidence’ of widespread irregularities which favored the president and greatly impacted the final outcome of the poll.

The Vice Presidential candidate of the NPP in the 2012 elections, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia who is the 3rd petitioner, took journalists through what he claimed were massive irregularities in the elections stating that “there are so many ways of stealing a vote, the same way there are so many ways of killing a cat.”

The NDC later applied to join the case which was met with stiff opposition from the petitioners. The Supreme Court granted the application of the NDC making them third respondents.